The World-Beaters Of Tomorrow
Among the world's big corporations, which will still be in good shape in 10 or 20 years? Try these for size:
American International Group (AIG) the US insurer.
Heineken, the Dutch brewer.
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Hewlett-Packard the US electronics manufacturer.
J P Morgan the US bank.
SGS Thomson, the Franco-Italian semiconductor maker.
The names might seem rather a mixed bag. But these are the winners thrown up by a five-year research programme from Insead, the Fontainebleau-based business school.
The underlying premise of the study is straightforward. The success or failure of companies in the marketplace depends on a complex series of actions, which require many years to take effect.
By studying the past history of companies, it should be possible to spot the factors that have made a difference to long-run performance. On that basis, the Insead research team has bombarded companies with questions to find if they are doing the right things today to succeed in future.
By virtually all measures, AIG tops the rankings by a clear margin. Given the company's high reputation, this is interesting but not implausible. Some other findings are less expected.
Among electrical companies, such venerable US names as Xerox and Emerson Electric are edged out by Europeans: not only by SGS-Thomson, but by Danfoss, the Danish air-conditioning and refrigeration company, and by Schneider, the French electrical engineer. And among consumer goods companies. Procter & Gamble trails behind Heineken and Whitbread, the UK brewer.
The study has some notable limitations. The companies quizzed, all among the world's top 1,000 by revenue, were drawn only from Europe and North America. Thus, the top car companies were found to be BMW, Volkswagen and General Motors. Toyota of Japan, an obvious candidate, was not included.
Second, companies were drawn from only six sectors: autos, computers and electrical financial services, fast-moving consumer goods, oil and chemicals, and other services. Third, companies were ranked only if they gave adequate responses to the survey. The questionnaire, consisting of 157 questions, had to be answered by executives in various functions and at various levels of seniority within each company.
So what are the measures of a company's success? In essence, the 157 questions were boiled down to 12 capabilities